Seacraft 23

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

A very light 300 HP is the perfect engine for that boat without compromising efficiency. Your boat is light the way you built it and yes, old Seacrafts and Formulas liked to go on top of the chop instead of thru it. With a 300 you can easily see 55 light.
No pictures of the bloody decks, unacceptable.

[tech_support]

wrapping it up now......

Installing GPS/sonar, had to make another hole in the transom for the cable, I had hopes the tube I made for the trim tab cable would be big enough to also fit the tranducer cable, but the plug on the ducer cable was too wide (and you know you can not cut those things).

hole drilled



hole coated liberally with epoxy




PVC liner sanded to get good bond



I cut a mixing stick in half, length wise, to make a "butter knife and use it to coat the inside of the hole. Then I put some on the tube before threading it through, I turn it as I slowly push it through. I put some electrical tape on the end of the pipe so the putty does not get in the tube, then when it all cures I cut the ends back with the multi tool. BTW, the blue tape there is to catch the epoxy so it does not run down the boat.






filled with life seal




I went with a Humminbird 998 side image. Found a pretty good price on it, for about as much as most other places were selling the 898. Not cheap, but this whole boat is built around finding fish (specifically bottom fish), so to skimp on the one tool that will make it MUCH easier to find good bottom seemed silly. Hopefully I will have a good handle on how to read it by the time the keys trip in June. You can see from the pictures I made a mount that would allow me to remove the unit but have it in the dash, dash is only 4" deep so it just barely fits and I can still close the glass. Looks a little funky, but its the best compromise for what I wanted (removable but still in the dash)






Re-wiring the boat: Until this point I have installed everything willynilly to make sure it worked and to see how I liked the layout. Have I mentioned I dislike this part of boat build Took everything out and Im now putting it all back, somewhat organized.

Got a new prop: 14.25 x 19 stainless, the one I had on first was for a smaller engine 13.75 x 17. So its a big step up, so we will see what happens.

[Mad Dog]

That's a nice sonar unit. Got my envy on.

Probably just coincidence but I propped my 22' Aquasport with a 14.75 x 19 three blade. With the 200 Etec I can run the full range of the throttle (5700 RPM) topping out just under 40 by the gps. You may be pretty close.

MD

[tech_support]

Some performance numbers from the new prop....

4 blade 19 pitch merc revolution prop (recommended from propgods.com)

27.7mph @ 3800
42mph @ 5600
30mph @ 4100
25.5mph @ 3600

20 mph beam wind, same rpm/speed running both ways up and down the river.

Load was 55 gallons fuel, 2 guys, full live well (about 360 pounds), with empty baitwell the speeds/rpm were the same but the hole shot was even worse. A little trim tab solved this.

5600 was as much as I could get without trimming the motor up too much. Prop really grabbed well, no problem keeping on plane at low speed, felt great. 3800 to 4000 seemed to be a really nice cruise. Hole shot was terrible but I expected as much.

Will be trying the same prop in a 17 pitch next, it should be much better for heavier offshore days. I might get a 18 or 19 pitch for light days, its was really nice to cruise at 30 mph

The side image sonar is wonderful, Im just getting used to it now. The down image option is probably just as useful (maybe more) than the side image.

[gw204]

On the PVC sleeve, have you ever tried something like this...

1. Drill the hole to be sleeved.
2. Coat the wood core with unthickened epoxy.
3. Fill the hole part way with thickened epoxy and clean up any that gets on surface.
4. Tape over the hole on the side you filled in and brace something flat over the hole.
5. Take your piece of sanded, cleaned PVC and jam it full of newspaper or something sacrificial.
6. Push the PVC into the hole to be sleeved from the opposite side until you hit the brace.
7. Remove brace and push the PVC in through a bit more so it sticks out both sides.
8. Trim flush once cured and remove the newspaper from the PVC.

My thinking behind this was that by filling up the PVC and pushing it into the thickened epoxy, you could force the epoxy to fill the spaces around the PVC and completely eliminate any voids. Dumb idea or you think it might actually work?

[tech_support]

Im sure that would work. I think the results would be the same. Making the dam on the backside would be difficult - not much room in the bilge to maneuver.

Im pretty sure there are no air voids with the way I did it, and if there are, the wood is sealed first with epoxy anyway. I buttered up the inside of the hole pretty good, and then threaded the PVC into the hole while putting more putty on the pipe, bringing it in and out as as I threaded it. The pipe pushed a pretty solid "plug" of putty out the back side

[tech_support]

latest prop is a 3 blade 15.25" (maybe its 15.5" ? ) diameter and 17 pitch, mercury prop. Same specs as the Yamaha SWS II prop

3 men, half a baitwell, 80 pounds ice and 50 gallons of fuel.....

5900 and 42 mph

So the slip is better, hole shot is better than the 19 pitch 4 blade.

Soupy Ocean when I tested it, so the WOT was all the data I managed. I did cruise around 4000 and 25 mph, which I really like. I cant go more than 25 in 4 second spaced wind slop anyway. In the slop I did get a lot of ventilation even with the motor trimmed down. I think I could stand to lower the motor one notch, but I dont want to give up speed on 80% of the days I use it just for better bite when its nasty.

picked up a fuel flow meter, so now I will be able to report economy numbers.

[Cracker Larry]

That sounds pretty good for a boat that size

[wadestep]

Here's my performance numbers from a post while you were considering this project:

here's detailed operating info with a 250 suzuki 4-stroke:
3500-3600 = min rpm to be fully on plane
3800-4200 = what I normally cruise at. No seas, 1/2 tank and 2 people = 24-28 knots through this range,
4,000 RPM, heavy load, 3' seas = 23 knots, 11.2 GPH. = 2.05 mpg
4,000 rpm light load, no seas = 26-27 knots, 10.5 GPH. = 2.57 mpg
Perfect conditions = 2.7 nautical miles/gal.

Looks like you're getting speeds in the same range, but with 25% less HP. Sounds, great - maybe a little performance improvement with the bracket, and weight savings as well. My cruise at 2.57 nautical MPG is 2.96 Statute MPG. Sounds like you'll be better than that!

Are you bringing it to the Keys? I'd really like to see it... Looks like I'll be trailering my 23 down there then.
wade

[Steven]

angle is bolted to stringers.

I also noticed in your gallery you have batteries in the console. Is the starting battery there as well? If so, what gage wire did you run from there to the motor?

yes, its #2 battery cable

How long was your cable? I'm looking about 20' for the route I want to take.